Photo courtesy ExxonExxon Mobil Corp. announced on Wednesday that it had found the biggest oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico in more than a decade, the equivalent of more than 700 million barrels of oil. Shown is the rig, Maersk Developer, in the Gulf of Mexico, 250 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in about 7,000 feet of water.

The company on Wednesday said it's found the equivalent of 700 million barrels of oil at the Hadrian prospect, located 250 miles off Louisiana's coast and in 7,000 feet of water. That's a major find to help advance our nation's energy independence and security, and it shows why the Obama administration needs to ramp up the approval of safe drilling permits.

Exxon had finished two wells at the site and was prepared to drill a third one when the administration last year imposed its blanket moratorium on drilling following the BP spill. That halted Exxon's progress in exploring this prospect. It wasn't until March that federal regulators finally signed off on the company's revised plans for the third well, which helped achieve the new discovery.

Exxon officials said more than 85 percent of the resource found at their Hadrian prospect site is oil, which makes most of it recoverable under current technologies.

Critics of deepwater drilling have raised concerns about a repeat of the Deepwater Horizon disaster as new permits have been approved recently -- and there's nothing Louisianians want to avoid more than another such catastrophe.

Exxon has a solid record of deepwater exploration in the Gulf, where the company has drilled 36 wells ranging from 4,000 feet to 8,700 feet in the past decade. In addition, Exxon is among the founders of a consortium formed to rapidly respond to future spills in deep water.

President Obama in May announced several policies intended to increase domestic oil production, including in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration needs to deliver on promises to hold a lease sale in the Gulf this year and to also continue improving the efficiency of regulators reviewing drilling permits.

Nothing will increase oil production and economic development in our region more than safely restoring this vital and needed industry back to full force -- as Exxon's new find proves.